1. The Sonnet and Its Forms
Rough winds
do shake the
darling buds
of May,
Thou art more
lovely and more
temperate
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
And summer’s
lease hath all
too short
a date.
From “Sonnet 18”
By William
Shakespeare
The Sonnet and Its Forms

2. Essential Vocabulary

3. Meter
The arrangement of a line of poetry by the number of syllables and the rhythm of accented (or stressed) syllables
Ex. iambic pentameter, iambic tetrameter, trochaic trimeter, etc.

4. Foot
Two syllables that together make up the smallest unit of rhythm in a poem

5. Iamb
A foot that has two syllables, one unstressed followed by one stresed
ta TUM
de LAY (delay)

6. Pentameter A line of poetry that has five metrical feet
Line has 10 syllables

7. Iambic Pentameter
A common meter in poetry consisting of a line with five metrical feet, each foot containing an unaccented syllables and an accented syllable (iamb)
Ta TUM ta TUM ta TUM ta TUM ta TUM

8. Quatrain A stanza or poem of four lines
I said I splendidly loved you; it's not true.
Such long swift tides stir not a land-locked sea.
On gods or fools the high risk falls -- on you --
The clean clear bitter-sweet that's not for me.
--Rupert Brooke, “Sonnet”

9. Octave A stanza or poem of eight lines
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Sonnet 43”

10. Sestet A stanza or poem of six lines
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Sonnet 43”

11. Couplet
A pair of lines that are the same length, usually rhyme, and form a complete thought
You do bewitch me; O, that I could fly
From my self you, or from your own self I.
--Michael Drayton, “Sonnet XI”

12. Rhyme Scheme The arrangement of rhymes in a poem
I said I splendidly loved you; it's not true.
Such long swift tides stir not a land-locked sea.
On gods or fools the high risk falls -- on you --
The clean clear bitter-sweet that's not for me.
--Rupert Brooke, “Sonnet” A B
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Sonnet 43” A B B A A B B A

13. Sonnet Cycle
A group of sonnets that form a story, usually of the poet’s love for his beloved

14. Types of Sonnets

15. Italian or Petrarchan
Named after Francesco Petrarch, a 14th- century Italian poet
Sonnets were dedicated to his beloved Laura

16. Spenserian Form created by Edmund Spenser in 16th century
Sonnet cycle Amoretti written for future wife

17. English or Shakespearean
Henry Howard
Form created by Henry Howard and Sir Thomas Wyatt in 16th century
Why called Shakespearean?
Shakespeare perfected form
Sir Thomas Wyatt

18. Petrarchan Sonnets

19. Petrarchan Sonnet Divided into an octave and a sestet
Octave usually rhymes ABBA ABBA
Contains a “turn” (shift) after octave
Signals a change in subject or introduction of new idea
Sestet can rhyme in variety of ways: CDECDE or CDCDCD or CDECDE or CDDCDC or CDCEDC or CDECED

20. My letters! all dead paper, mute and white!
And yet they seem alive and quivering
Against my tremulous hands which loose the string
And let them drop down on my knee tonight.
This said—he wished to have me in his sight
Once, as a friend: this fixed a day in spring
To come and touch my hand. . . a simple thing,
Yes I wept for it—this the paper's light. . .
Said, Dear, I love thee; and I sank and quailed
As if God's future thundered on my past.
This said, I am thine—and so its ink has paled
With lying at my heart that beat too fast.
And this Love, thy words have ill availed
If, what this said, I dared repeat at last!
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Sonnet 28” A B C D

21. Shakespearean Sonnets

22. Shakespearean Sonnet Contain three quatrains and an ending couplet
Written in iambic pentameter
Rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

23. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
--William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 18” A B C D E F G

24. Spenserian Sonnets

25. Spenserian Sonnet Contains three quatrains and a couplet
Employs linking rhymes between quatrains
Rhyme scheme is ABAB BCBC CDCD EE
Most difficult to write because it allows for only 4 different rhymes

26. Fair is my love, when her fair golden hairs
With the loose wind ye waving chance to mark:
Fair, when the rose in her red cheeks appears,
Or in her eyes the fire of love does spark:
Fair, when her breast, like a rich laden bark
With precious merchandise she forth doth lay:
Fair, when that cloud of pride, which oft doth dark
Her goodly light, with smiles she drives away
But fairest she, when so she doth display
The gate with pearls and rubies richly dight,
Through which her words so wise do make their way,
To bear the message of her gentle sprite.
The rest be works of nature's wonderment,
But this the work of heart's astonishment.
--Edmund Spenser, “Sonnet 78” A B C D E